Wednesday, April 30, 2008

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Phil Heimlich is returning to public life as a weekend talk show host on the Salem Radio Network, which is best known for carrying a mix of conservative talkers and Christian broadcasters. So he's not exactly following the footsteps of Jerry Springer, another former Cincinnati pol who forged into broadcasting after a political setback (Springer lost the 1982 Democratic primary for Ohio governor.) Earlier this year, Heimlich abandoned his campaign against U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt for the Republican nomination in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. His new weekly show, Hard Truths With Phil Heimlich, makes it debut Saturday (May 3) on five AM stations -- WTOD, 1560 Toledo; WHKW, 1220 Cleveland; WRFD, 880 Columbus; WGTK, 960 Louisville, Ky., and WLQV, 1500 Detroit.

Phil Heimlich is the son of Dr. Henry Heimlich, the physician credited with the maneuver that has saved choking victims around the world. Phil Heimlich has been a conservative Republican officeholder in Cincinnati, where he served on the City Council and Hamilton County Commission. He lost a race for reelection for the county office in 2006 and has largely faded from the public eye. His new show -- slated for the 2-3 p.m. timeslot on Saturday afternoons -- at present does not have an outlet in Cincinnati, his homebase. Although Salem's stable of talk show hosts includes conservatives such as Michael Medved, Bill Bennett and Hugh Hewitt, Heimlich says he does not intend to espouse either a Republican or Democratic party line:

"We will only find the answers to the difficult issues facing our country when we stop looking in the wrong places. We will not find answers in the often empty debate between Democrats and Republicans, nor with those labeled 'liberals' or 'conservatives.' Hard Trusts seeks the difficult answers where they best can be found. -- in the pages of history, through out own common sense, and most importantly in the Word of God."